Child Labor Today

Child labor is the use of young children for hard or dangerous work for little or no pay.
        Even though child labor is not a severe as it was many years ago. It still happens all around the world today, and it affects millions of children worldwide. According to statistics from the International Labor Organization show that around 73 million children between the ages of 10 and 14 that work in economic activities around the globe, and 218 million children working worldwide between the ages of 5 and 17. Note these statistics do not include domestic labor. In the world today Asia has the worst problem with child labor. There are around 44.6 million children that have to work. Africa is not much better. In Africa there are about 23.6 million child laborers, and in Latin America there are 5.1 million child laborers. In India 14.4% of all children ages 10-14 are employed as child laborers. In Bangladesh the number 30.1% are child laborers. In China 11.6% are child laborers, and in Pakistan it is 17.7%. These are not all of the numbers. They are just a small piece of the big picture. If ir was possible to count all of the child and domestic laborers in the world; the number of child laborers could be hundreds of millions.

        In the United States, just over a year ago inspectors found dozens of illegal and underage immagrants employed at a meatpacking plant in Iowa. The plant was found to have some as young as 13 were exposed to chemicals and made to work with knives at dizzying speeds with almost no safety training. Many children testified to have worked 17 hour days with no to little pay. Children in other countries are not able to recieve justice as quick as they do in the United States. For example in Kyrgystan, a country in Central Asia, the economy collapsed so the children were sent into abandoned coal mines in order to gain money. These children did not have proper digging equipment, and this resorted to them using their hands and anything they could get a hold of to clear the mines.

        It does not matter how many laws and restrictions that a country or community makes. There is still child labor in the world today. Child labor occurs do to many different factors in their lives such as poverty, lack of education , and poor enforcement of the child labor laws. Even if some of the laws are enforced. They may contain loopholes that overlook child labor in some areas, such as domestic or agricultural labor. Example: in Nepal children under the age of 14 cannot work legally in full-time economic jobs, but certain occupations are not included in this law. Both in Kenya and Bangladesh, child labor laws do not apply to domestic or agricultural jobs. Not only is child labor bad in general, but it can also affect the children. The kids involved have been known for havving a hindered mental, physical, emotional and spiritual development.